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RE: The "Keys" in Bitcoin that Everything Depends on + Insightful Comments get YOU 100SP~

in #bitcoin7 years ago

I never really understood the difference between the public key and private key which i the very reason I was attracted to click on your post. I will be utterly honest, it was hard for me to understand at first but with the use of https://anders.com/blockchain/public-private-keys/signatures.html which you generously provided, I gained a little bit of insight. I decided to read your post once more and everything started to make sense. Here is what I did with your help.

p1.PNG
The photo above was what I was originally greeted with. There are random numbers assigned to the private key and public key.

p2.PNG
I decided to try and edit the private key, which you can see I edited a number 1 as my private key and it showed me a different public key INSTANTLY! Reading your post, you mentioned how:

You can think of the public key as the representation of your private key, open for everyone to see.

That totally made me understood better. Since each number is unique on its own (2 is never = 1 under any case), this would mean that each number has its own equivalent representation in the form of a public key.

p3.PNG

I decided to add another number making my private key "12" and its shows another public key instantly.

p3.4.PNG

I think it is important to note that simply exchanging the numbers from 12 to 21 does not create the same public key similarly to how the value of 12 =/= 21. Okay. So far so good.

Each private key has its own unique public key. Despite having the same number with a different order, a UNIQUE key is assigned to it.

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p3.5.PNG

This time i tried to use 123 as my private key and it gave me a public key of:

04a598a8030da6d86c6bc7f2f5144ea549d28211ea58faa70ebf4c1e665c1fe9b5204b5d6f84822c307e4b4a7140737aec23fc63b65b35f86a10026dbd2d864e6b (which is just equivalent to my private key)

You could only imagine how many combinations there can be with 256-bit long number which is picked randomly as with our BTC wallets, or with the 77 digit number and letter with the initial private key given on the first picture. Truly there is a lot which means it is very difficult to replicate one in any case.

p4.PNG

Afterwhich, I switched to the Signatures portion of the page to try out what other things I could learn. Initially, I just typed in random number into the private key and saw how it changes. However I was sure that there is a point why I was redirected onto the page. I decided to input 123 and clicked sign. I got the number noticed something, I got the message signature keys:

304402204afdbd27324ebec4db1fcf8672000f00ee45ee1ac34b914a8e2d1e8a2390adaa022014d06283bc338e5adfdf3bc07213528015fd5ac4937f76f1e539bdbfe7fadf6d (which is the representation code for the private keys 123)

p4.6.PNG

When I moved over to the verify tab, I still see the message signature keys. But when I tried to verify it with the public keys 123, the page turned red. I was confused. I though they were equal to each other.

I returned to your blog to understand better and I read your statement: What is very important to understand here is that you can verify the keys match but cannot go backwards and derive a private key with your public key.

Of course! How stupid of me! I was using my private keys for a public key slot.

Since 04a598a8030da6d86c6bc7f2f5144ea549d28211ea58faa70ebf4c1e665c1fe9b5204b5d6f84822c307e4b4a7140737aec23fc63b65b35f86a10026dbd2d864e6b is just equivalent to my private key 123
p3.5.PNG

and

304402204afdbd27324ebec4db1fcf8672000f00ee45ee1ac34b914a8e2d1e8a2390adaa022014d06283bc338e5adfdf3bc07213528015fd5ac4937f76f1e539bdbfe7fadf6d is the representation /message key code for the private keys 123
p4.PNG

This would mean that

04a598a8030da6d86c6bc7f2f5144ea549d28211ea58faa70ebf4c1e665c1fe9b5204b5d6f84822c307e4b4a7140737aec23fc63b65b35f86a10026dbd2d864e6b (encrypted private key)

only answers to

304402204afdbd27324ebec4db1fcf8672000f00ee45ee1ac34b914a8e2d1e8a2390adaa022014d06283bc338e5adfdf3bc07213528015fd5ac4937f76f1e539bdbfe7fadf6d (representation message keys)

p5.PNG

FINALLY! It made the screen light up green which means the combination was correct.